Rock en español
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Rock en español (
History
Beginnings (1956–1964)
Spanish-speaking rock music began in the late-1950s, through listening to American rock artists in the United States at the time. The song "El relojito" by Gloria Ríos released in 1956 is often considered the blueprint of rock en español. In 1958,
The new sound immediately caught the attention of the middle and upper class. The first rock bands in Latin America were created in the late 1950s with Los Llopis and Los Teen Tops achieving some success covering American rock classics during the early 1960s. The Spanish scene received some influences of non-English-speaking countries with the Yé-yé style as could be seen with Raphael. In the early 1960s, those styles of commercial rock music were nicknamed Nueva ola (New wave) in some South American countries to refer the bands that adopted the American and European styles.
British invasion effect (1964–1970)
After the popularization of The Beatles and the world success of the British Invasion, the Hispanophone world adapted new styles like Beat music, rhythm and blues, psychedelia, soul, folk-rock and pop music. The Beatles and other British beat groups and American rock bands were greatly influenced by American musicians
The influences of beat music and psychedelic pop were noticeable in some acts such as Los Brincos, El Kinto , Los Gatos or The Speakers, while other successful bands featured mostly English and few Spanish vocals like Los Bravos or Los Shakers. Success outside of the native and Spanish-speaking scene proved difficult to attain though, and the few hits these bands achieved worldwide were sung in English, as Miguel Ríos and Los Bravos did for example. Los Saicos were one of the very oldest proto-punk bands in the world. By mid-decade the Mexican (later US citizen) Carlos Santana moved north to California and soon joined the burgeoning San Francisco rock scene. Forming the band Santana towards the end of the sixties, he would gather a shifting group of musicians from mixed Anglo-Saxon and Hispanic backgrounds; the band would become one of the more popular acts of the 1970s in the U.S., Mexico, and Europe and brought together elements of rock, blues and jazz with Latin percussion and harmonics (as evidenced, for example, on Santana (1969), Abraxas (1970) and Santana III (1971)). The band would consistently alternate lyrics in Spanish and English; they were arguably the most successful crossover Latin/Anglo rock band to date, and were important in spreading interest in Latin percussion and drumming around the world.
Although he is not a rock en español musician, Carlos Santana's background is that of a traditional Latin musician who has fused rock guitar (and jazz and
However, styles like blues, acid rock, hard rock, and prog rock would be very influential around the next decade. Almendra, led by Luis Alberto Spinetta, was one of the most important prog bands of the late 1960s and later, Spinetta would become one of the most important artists of the 1970s rock en español scene,
Prog rock domain, hard rock origins and Repression (1970-1979)
Influenced by the new trends of the 60's, psychedelic acts like Los Dug Dug's, Pescado Rabioso (heavy psych)— or La Revolución de Emiliano Zapata (although rarely they featured Spanish vocals during these years); blues acts like Manal and progressive rock bands like Invisible, Sui Generis (folk prog), Témpano , Los Jaivas (Andean rock), Vox Dei (which style would turn harder sounding) or Triana (heavily influenced by flamenco) and Crack (more British prog-rock influenced) appeared. Triana were pioneers of the Andalusian rock scene, a new style which emerged in Spain that combined prog rock with flamenco.
The first hard rock acts appeared in the early 1970s with bands like
But in these days appeared some repression of rock music in Mexico. The government forced artists, labels and radio stations to go "underground" as they associated the music with the breakdown of societal standards. The main pushing edge that created tension with the government was due to the Avándaro Rock Festival in 1971. Also the dictatorship established in Argentina in 1976 make some Argentine artist leave the country for greener pastures in Europe, mostly Spain. They joined the Spanish rock scene and sometimes Hispano-Argentine bands Tequila get formed and achieved success. Tequila joined a rock and roll, glam and rhythm & blues scene along with other Spanish acts Burning or La Orquesta Mondragón.
Internationalization (1980s)
The most prominent punk bands appeared along the 1980s with
Though mainly a teen-pop band, Puerto Rican band
Recent times (1990s onward)
The final amalgamation into a coherent international scene was helped by the introduction of
During the success of Alternative rock in the 1990s, many bands performed alt rock and
Rock en español in the United States
Rock en español borrows heavily from rock and roll music and traditional and popular music of Spanish-speaking countries such as
In Los Angeles, an underground scene has developed and continues to flourish that supports the local rock en español acts. Top bands from the LA REE scene include Los Invisibles of José L. Garza, Motita, Pastilla, Los Amigos Invisibles, Maria Fatal, Rascuache, Voz de Mano, Cabula, Satélite, Las 15 letras, Verdadera FE, Aaron Andreu and Los Olvidados.
Record labels that have supported US based REE include Aztlan records, El Mero Mero Records, and Mofo Records. Many of them have been associated to the Chicano rock scene.
Other variations
- Argentine rock
- Chilean rock
- Colombian rock
- Costa Rican rock
- Cuban rock
- Dominican rock
- Ecuadorian rock
- Guatemalan rock
- Mexican rock
- Panamanian rock
- Peruvian rock
- Puerto Rican rock
- Spanish rock
- Uruguayan rock
- Venezuelan rock
See also
- Brown-eyed soul
- Latin alternative
- Latin American music
- Flamenco rock
- Latin Grammy Award for Best Rock Album
- Tejano music
- La Movida Madrileña
- Rock en tu idioma
- Latino punk
References
- ^ Grobaty, Tim. "Danny Flores Remembered". Spectropop. Retrieved 21 April 2022.
- ^ "Oye Como Va". NPR 100. Retrieved 22 April 2022.
- ^ "Menudo - Música de Puerto Rico".
- Brill, Mark. Music of Latin America and the Caribbean, 2nd Edition, 2018. Taylor & Francis ISBN 1138053562